This poem doesn’t need explanation, at least if you have visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Outside Japan you likely only know these names because of the atomic bomb. This single reductive moment does not define Nagasaki, nor Hiroshima.
Nagasaki is not the bomb, not a nullified future
No present, obliterated past.
Not mere shadowed imprint
Of fell fire falling in a flash
Not just the runner up in Hiroshima’s winning race,
Hiroshima, where one brilliant August day
The silver bird dropped Little Boy on children in their play.
A brilliant day just like the one when on the top of Mount Misen
In Miyajima, as high as birds, we looked down
On Hiroshima across the aching beauty of the bay
It must have looked like that, that other sunny day …
But in living Nagasaki, we didn’t find
A peace park at its heart
The city’s heart is by the water
By the bay, where Japan’s locked door was left ajar
Where sailing ships came laden to the Dejima
Carrying goods and things unknown.
Down by the bay, where in Meiji times
Glover settled and from him
Japan mastered ‘modern’ ways.
Down by the bay in Nagasaki
Where samurai exchanged swords for suits
And from the bay they travelled and the world embraced
And when they’d done, home again they came.
Image
Japanese translation of a book of anatomy. Dejima museum, Nagasaki.
RELATED POSTS
-
The Flag without a Country: the Origins of the Italian FlagThe red, white and green of the Italian flag is well-known as a symbol for Italy. The Margherita pizza celebrates its colours. Its colours are displayed at every national celebration. But where does the flag come from and how did it come to be the national banner of Italy? As with many good stories, the story of the Italian flag…
-
The sparkling Duomo in the darknessThe sparkling Duomo in the darkness Il duomo scintillante nel buio Stone outlined in green and rose and white As if it were paper cut out by giant's hand As if the stone itself glows with inner light Tourists, unthinking, circumambulating this glimmering Kaaba. Like them, I am in awe, shivering at its wonder Tier upon tier, panel upon panel…
-
Leo's Letter, the Atomic Bomb and Sadako's CranesThe following short story "Leo's Letter" is written as a "fairytale" about the dropping of the atomic bomb. Although it is fictional, it is closely based on history. "Leo" is Leo Szilard, one of the founders of the Manhattan Project that created the first atomic bomb. Albert is, of course, Albert Einstein. Edward is Edward Teller, a scientist involved in…
-
Family - Sometimes the most ordinary can be the most beautifulSometimes the most ordinary can be the most beautiful. Such was the case with the inspiration for this poem about a family who were singing together one evening. Talvolta il più quotidiano può essere la cosa più bella. Tale è stato il caso per l'ispirazione di questo poema che tratta di una famiglia che una sera cantava insieme. Harmonies rising,…
